Waist.



No. 629,439. Patented July 25, I899. T. B. FITZPATRICK.

WAIST.

(Application filed July 8, 1896.)

(No Model.)

WI'T'PIEEEES ms PETERS co. Mo'raumo" wnum UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

THOMAS E. FITZPATRIOK, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WAlST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,439, dated July 25, 1899. Application filed July 6, 1896. Serial No. 598,223. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that L'FnoMAs B. FITZPATRIGK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Waists for Women and Children, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

The invention is an improvement upon that described in my Letters Patent of the United States No. 549,351, dated November 5, 1895; and it relates especially to such changes in the construction of the waist as especially adapt it to the use of misses and women.

The invention will be described in connection with the drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a waist having the features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a view in rear elevation thereof.

A represents the body of the garment. It is of an elastic fabric preferably knitted and in one piece. ous. It is open at the front, and its neck is Vshaped at the front and at the back or of any other desired shape. There is attached upon each edge of the front opening an elastic reinforcing-strip which extends about the neck-opening upon the front and back, passing over the shoulders and down the back to the bottom of the waist. This may be made in one piece, and I have so represented it. It is lettered B, and it is represented as separated into two parts at the point b of the back portion of the neck opening, the separate parts'b extending along the edge of said opening, over the shoulders, and down each edge of the separate front sections. These reinforcing-sections are united to the body of the garment by elastic stitches. The front portions carry, respectively, the buttons and buttonholes by which the two parts of thewaist at the front are united, and the rear portion Its back is preferably continu-" near its lower end carries one or more buttons for supporting undergarments. This elastic strip serves to reinforce the waist from the shoulders downward on the front and back;

also, to finish theneck-opening and the edges of the front-sections, and also to more securely connect the buttons with the body of the garment both at the baclcand front. There is also attached to each side of the garment the elastic reinforcing-strip 0, extending from the shoulders about the armhole downward to the bottom of the Waist and which act to reinforce the sides of the waist and to receive the buttons for holding the undergarment and to distribute the strain of the undergarments through the buttons to the shoulders and throughout the waist.

The front and back sections of the waist preferably are the same in shape, and thus permit the waist to be reversible, so that it may be worn with the back at the front and,

to be adapted to be buttoned at the front or 7 back of the-wearer, the said body portion of said waist having an elastic reinforcing-strip extending continuously from top to bottom of both the front and back of said body portion and diverging so as to extend about the said neck-opening thereof, the diverging portions of said strip serving to reinforce both sides of the openpart of the waist, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

. THOMAS B. FITZPATRIOK.

In presence of- FRANK S. ADAMS, I FREDERICK BLAKE. 

